Gate operating mechanism



May 17, 1932. N. H. LARsoN 1,858,896

GATE OPERATING MECHANISM Filed June 22. 1951 2 snees-sh t 1 May 17, 1932. N. l-l. LARsoN GATE OPERATING MECHANISM Filed June 22, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n 5 The principal object of the invention is to drums or discs 10, all of which are fixed to the 5 Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NELS HENRY LARSON, 0F PEPIN, WISCONSEN GATE OPERATLENG MECHANISM Application filed .Tune 22, 1931. Serial No. 545,902.

This invention relates to gate operating Within the housing 4 is mounted the horimechanisms and has special reference to such zontally disposed driving shaft 8 carrying a device adapted for use in selectively operatupon one end the crank wheel or disc 9 and ing a swinging gate from a vehicle. adjacent its other end two spaced ratchet produce a more practical and dependable deshaft. Adjacent each ratchet drum 10 and vice for the purpose intended than heretofore intermediate of them are loosely mounted known. two sprocket wheels 11 and 12, they each Other objects and advantages of the novel carrying a length of sprocket chain for opstructure will appear in the following deerating same, and each also carryingaspring 60 scription of the invention. controlled dog 13 for engagement within Referring now to the accompanying draweither notch 14 of their respective ratchet ings, forming part of this application, and discs 10. YThe chain for the sprocket wheel wherein like reference characters indicate 12 is illustrated at 15, the ends of which are like parts: attached one to the' power line 19 andthe 65 Figure 1 is an elevation partly broken other to the contractile spring 17 there being away of the hinged end of a gate and the asimilar power line 18 and spring attached to supporting post therefore with one embodithe ends of the other sprocket chain, not

ment of the invention attached; shown, on the other sprocket wheel 11; their 0 Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1 arrangement being identical, and alternate- 70 except that the gate is omitted; ly operable with that illustrated.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the re- A vertical centrally disposed shaft 2O isleasing dog' within the vpower transmitting mounted within the housing 4 just forwardmechanism; ly of the horizontal shaft 8 and extends up- Figure 4 is a layout plan of the gate operatwardly through the upper end of the housing 75 ing mechanism, and passageway therewhere there is attached thereto the gate opthrough; y erating disc or crown wheel 21. rilhis shaft Figure 5 is an enlarged-sectional view of 20 is cooperatively connected with the shaft one of the operating posts and mechanism at- 8 by means of the bevel gears 22 at the lower 9 tached thereto; and end of said shaft connecting with the horiso Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional View of Zontal shaft 23 which carries at one end thereone of the power line compensating devices. of the crank arm 24 connecte@` as by the pit- 1 represents the gate post which is inman 25 to the crank wheel 9, which, as before stalled at the side of the roadway indicated stated,- is keyed to the shaft S. lThus when n 5 in dotted lines at 2, and which roadway is any motion is imparted to the shaft 8 by S5 controlled by the swinging gate 3 here illusstress in clockwise direction upon either of trated as being made of tubing or pipe, the sprockets 11 or 12, motion is imparted though the construction of gate is not parto the crown or gate wheel 21. Here lieth a. ticularly material in the operation of the particularly novel feature of the invention,

-0 present invention. Selective power transto wit: that intermittent rotary motion of 90 mitting mechanismA is illustrated as being the shaft S imparted to it by the alternate housed in a substantially rectangularly action of the sprocket wheels 11 and 12 causes shaped casing 4 fixed to the post 1 adjacent thecrown wheel 21 to rotate a quarter turn,

the ground, and the lower end of said housfirst in one direction Vand then inthe other'. i ing in this instance is shown as carrying a So that, assuming the gate to be in closed 95 pintle 5 which functions as a hinge support position,'if one sprocket wheel, by stress upon for the gate, the hinge being illustrated at 6, its sprocket chain 15, causes the shaft 8 to while the upper hinge is illustrated at 7, it rotate, the gate will be drawn to open posibeing of any preferred common construction tion; and when the other sprocket wheel is other than will hereinafter be described. turned and further rotates the shaft 8 in 100 the same direction the crown wheel will return to its original position, closing the gate. rThis is accomplished as by the ratchet disc 9 making a full half turn to throw the lever 24 to a like angle below the axis of the shaft 23, when the following half turn of the disc 9 in the same direction will bring it back, thus imparting an alternate motion to the sha-ft 2O through the miter gears 22 and the crown wheel 21 on the shaft 20.

Itis essential that the gate operating mechanism remain stationary at the conclusion of each operation, to accomplish which there is provided the transverse clogging shaft (see Figure 3) carrying the crank shaped dog 71 upon the free end thereof, which dog engages alternately one or the other of the two opposed notches 72 in the circumferential face of the crank disc 9. The clogging shaft 70 carries the box like crank 73 i'ixed thereto directly in front of the sprocket wheels 11 and 12, and upon either side of the crank 73 is pivotally carried a laterally swingable dog 74, each being pivoted as at 75, and forwardly7 of the front of the crank these two swingable dogs are normally held together as by a contractile helical spring 76 so that at the initial movement of -either of the chains which operate the sprocket wheels 11 and 12 a catch or lug 77 carried by each of the chains will engage its respective dog 74 on the crank 73 and thus raise the dog 71 from holding engagement with the wheel or disc 9, thus it is free to be revolved by subsequent action of the sprocket wheel. One of the catches 77 and its relative position in respect to the dog 74 is illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings and is of course positioned upon the proper link of the chain and is so shaped with an inclined angle portion that when the chain is returned to its normal position by the action of the contractile spring 17 the catch 77 in its downward course will push laterally the spring tethered end of its respective dog 74 to beneath same ready for a return action; at the same time permitting the dog 71 to remain in its notch on the wheel 9 and hold same stationary.

Now the connection of the crown wheel 21 to the gate includes two lugs 26, each pivoted as at 27 on opposite sides of the crown wheel, there preferably being a flattened -portion on either side of the wheel so that these lugs normally lie prone against said flattened portion. From each lug leads a rod 28 to a lever 29 pivoted within th-e link like member 30 installed upon the two vertically spaced rods or pipes 31 and 32, these rods or pipes forming part of the gate construction and occur preferably approximately the center, intermediate of the ends of the gate. J ust forwardly of the pivotal connection 33 of the lever 29 and upon either side of the link 30 is fixed an irregularly shaped bar 34 with its opposite end liXed as at 35 to rods 28 from the crown wheel attachment.

By this arrangement it is apparent that as the crown wheel is turned stress is applied directly to the central portion of the gate and it will be swung accordingly, and such stress will be yieldably applied due to this novel connection, which is advantageous not only in the application of power, should the same be sudden, but in the ultimate stopping of the gate in either open or closed osition, and furthermore renders possible tie slight swinging of the free end of the gate for eX- ample in letting a person pass through without undue stress on the operating mechanism.

1 have illustrated in Figure 4 the preferred arrangement of remote operating stations; the gate being shown as closed and designed tobe opened to the right, there being one operating station at 40, one directly opposite at 41, then one at the opposite side of the gate at 42, and one directly opposite it at 43, so that irrespective of the direction of travel upon both sides of the gate the latter is conveniently operated.

Each station comprises preferably a hollow post 44 well set into the ground and in comparatively easy reach of a vehicle passing same, and on the road side of each post is pivotally mounted as at 45 an operating lever 46 having a sprocket chain 47 attached thereto and leading into the post and about a Sprocket wheel 49 mounted upon the shaft 48. The end of the sprocket chain 47 opposite to that attached to the lever 46 has attached thereto a contractile helical spring 52 which is anchored in the lower portion of the post 44 as at 53, or otherwise, if desired, and also has attached thereto the gate operating line 19, so that when the upper end of the lever is pulled away from the post the chain is drawn over the sprocket 49 and stress applied to the operating line 51, the contractile spring 52 being for the purpose of returning the chain and lever to their normal inactive positions.

It is apparent that since there is an operating station on either side of the passageway or road, as well as upon either side of the gate, resulting in four in all, it becomes desirable to have as few operating lines leading to the selective instrumentality adjacent the gate as possible, but there must be at least two as previously described and numbered 18 and 19. To this end I have installed for example intermediate of the gate supporting post and the two operating posts 40 and 42 a compensating unit 54 into which leads both lines 51 from said operating posts at one side of the gate, and like lines from the posts 41 and 43 on the opposite side of the gate lead into the other compensating unit 54. Of course it is essential that these lin-es be conducted in suitable pipe having guiding sheaves therein, not shown, as being only a common expedient. The compensating device for each sid-e operating line, however, comprises a cylinder shown specifically@l at having a central division wall 56 therein through which are two pitmen 57 and 58, they being slidably mounted in a reciproca-ble piston 59 at one side of the division wall 56, and each having a head thereupon to limit their passage through the piston, and at their opposite ends upon the opposite side of the division wall 56 are connected as at 60 to their respective lines 51. Now the power line 19 on one side of the gate leads through the opposite end of the cylinder and is connected as at 61 to the piston so that irrespective of which of the lines 51 is pulled the piston will be carried, and with it draft upon the line 19 occurs, while the opposite pitman and line may remain stationary, the piston sliding upon the stationary pitmar'n'fit being a loose fit in the piston as previously7 described.

Now the other operating line 18 on the opposite side of the gate leads to the other compensating mechanism 54, the same accommodating the lines leading from the operating stations 42 and 43. As previously described, there being two sprocket wheels 11 and 12 each having an operating chain thereupon, one attached to the two operating posts on one side of the gate and the other to the two posts on the opposite side of the gate, the latter may be operated from either side without affecting the lines on the other side.

If preferred it is obvious that but a single sprocket wheel and chain may be employed and the operating lines from both sides of the gate lead thereto and similarly function except that when the chain is drawn downwardly from one side of the gate slack of course will occur in the line that leads from the opposite side; whereas if the two sprocket Wheels and chains are used no such slack of the inactive line exists.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Grate operating mechanism including a housing, a wheel on said housing and connected to the gate for operating same, a vertical shaft to one end of which said Wheel is attached and having a bevel gear at the other end, a counter shaft having a bevel gear in constant mesh with the gear on the vertical shaft, a power shaft having a crank wheel fixed thereto, a crank connecting the power 

